Myself and Davy headed off down to the Lakes this weekend for some road-side rock climbing. We were originally meant to go to Skye, but the weather forecast wasn’t too clever.

On Saturday we climbed at Castle Rock of Triermain, first up Zig Zag VS 4b (Lee/Davy/Davy/Lee) then Gazebo HVS 5a (Lee/Davy). Lee battled with a thorn bush on the first pitch and had trouble finding the obvious belay. Davy led well up the second pitch and even made the route into a nice curve. Tasty pies, ice cream, more ice cream, beers, pies and beers rounded off a fine day.

On Sunday we had a lazy morning before wandering past the Bowderstone to Quayfoot Buttress. Just as we arrived it started to rain, so we blagged up Quayfoot Buttress VD (Davy/Lee) which was polished, damp and dirty. When we got to the top it stopped raining, so we decided to climb Mandrake HVS 5a (Davy/Davy). This was a great climb. The first pitch was easier than expected, the second probably about as hard as expected! Davy did well, using a round dozen bits of gear to make sure his second was looked after.

Next was Irony HVS 5a (Lee/Davy/Davy). On the initial pitch I managed to get more airtime than Lady GaGa even before putting in the first bit of gear. Luckily, Davy got out of the way to allow me to have a soft landing in a muddy bog. Swearing and some plasters from the first-aid kit of Tom 1/2 (the “TomTom”s) patched me up and I successfully managed the first pitch on the second attempt. However, en route I managed to break the crag’s profanity record which had been held since 1932 by Peter Stepney, when he had a tank nut dropped on his head by the leader. Fortunately, only Davy, the TomToms, the people parked in the National Trust car park and some of the Borrowdale valley heard the tirade. Davy managed the next two pitches in somewhat better style to round off a fine weekend.

See more pics here: ?https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=113145477832652886878&target=ALBUM&id=5614840801962424145&authkey=Gv1sRgCOuytK2Ey9jCRQ&feat=email